This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Articles, such as containers, are prevalent in a wide variety of shapes and sizes for holding many different kinds of materials such as cosmetics, cleaning supplies, foodstuffs, beverages, light duty liquids, heavy duty liquids, etc. Such articles may be fabricated from plastic (e.g., polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyesters), glass, paperboard, cardboard, or other materials.
Regardless of the material, such articles are often provided with a label thereon, having text, logos, graphics, decorations, and/or other indicia that provide a consumer with information about the article and its contents. For example, this label information may include the trade name of the product, the producer of the product, ingredients, price, and/or other such information. In some instances, the label is associated with a surface of the article by means of an adhesive or the like. For example, one such type of label is a pressure-sensitive label. As is known to those skilled in the art, a pressure-sensitive label generally includes a substrate having indicia providing label information printed on one side thereof, and a pressure-sensitive adhesive applied on the opposite side thereof. The pressure-sensitive adhesive forms a bond between the label and an article when pressure is applied in order to adhere the label to the article.
The label information described above is generally situated on the label such that it is visible to a consumer when the label is associated with an article. However, in addition to the label information described above, certain labels may also include other information (in the form of text, logos, graphics, decorations, and/or other indicia), which may not be visible to the consumer when the label, or a section thereof, is associated with the article. Game-type information is an example of this sort of information. Game-type information may be included on the back side of the label (i.e., the nonvisible side). Another exemplary type of information that may be printed on the back side of a label includes coupon-type information. In order to be viewed, the label, or a section thereof, may be removed from the article, thereby exposing the game-type, coupon-type, or other type of information. Thus, it is desirable that the label, or a section of the label, be removable. This allows any game-type information to be revealed and any winning game piece (i.e., removable section or removable label) to be redeemed. It also allows for any coupon to be removed and retained by the retailer, or saved by the consumer for later use.
Labels that are removable from an article, or have removable sections, are known. However, these labels exhibit several drawbacks. For example, these known labels often include two substrates (with the first substrate affixed to an article, and a second substrate—the removable substrate—overlying and affixed to the first substrate). More specifically, in these labels, the second substrate may have indicia on its back side, and the back side is adhered to the first substrate. The back side of the first substrate is then affixed to an article to be labeled through the use of adhesives. The first substrate is applied to the article with greater force of adhesion (i.e., a stronger bond) than the force of adhesion of the second substrate to the first substrate. Thus, the second substrate can be removed from the first substrate while the first substrate remains adhered to the article. However, the use of two substrates increases the bulk of the label. This results in increases in materials used, with attendant increases in cost to prepare and ship the labels. Further, multiple adhesives of differing strengths must be used, further increasing the materials and cost, and increasing the time, calculation, and design that must go into the label. Further, the use of a first adhesive to bond the second substrate to the first substrate results in a second substrate that may not be easily removable from the first substrate, and may tear, thereby damaging the indicia.
As another drawback, prior labels having indicia printed on the back side of the second substrate have had difficulty in retaining the ink of that indicia on the back side of the second substrate during removal. For example, the adhesive of these labels can split during removal, leaving adhesive on both surfaces (i.e., first and second substrates). Moreover, the bond of the adhesive may become greater on aging than the strength of the substrate, resulting in tearing of the substrate on attempting to peel the label or a section thereof. This results in tearing of one or both of the substrates, and often results in the transfer of indicia from one surface to another, which removes indicia from one substrate and adheres it, in an unwanted fashion, to the other substrate. This destroys the usefulness of any game piece or coupon or other information.
Further, the very use of an adhesive on the removable label or removable section thereof (whether in a flood application or patterned application) can increase the difficulty in removing the label or removable section thereof from a secondary substrate, or article. This also can result in tearing or destruction of any coupon or game piece.
Further, even when a section of a label is designed to be removable (such as by including a release layer), the adhesives used for the remainder of a label (such as the standard adhesives used on labels for beer bottles), create a strong enough bond that the removable section also becomes bonded, thereby destroying its function. For example, some labels having a removable section may include a release coating over at least the removable section. However, before that label is placed onto an article or other substrate, the back side of the label is exposed to a roller, which floodcoats an adhesive onto the back side of the label, and thus over any release coating. In these labels, it is hoped that the release coating will continue to allow removal of the section, even in view of the presence of the adhesive. However, the adhesives are generally stronger than the release coating and create a bond between the article and the removable section, even in the presence of a release coating. This results in a removable section exhibiting the same drawbacks described above (e.g., a section that cannot be removed, that tears, that doesn't retain ink, etc.).
Further still, any label including a removable section may include perforations to define the removable section, and facilitate removal of the section from the remainder of the substrate. In general, perforations are made by methods well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, in one general method, an infeed roller directs a web of labels into a perforation apparatus, and a draw roller, disposed generally “downstream” from the infeed roller, pulls the web of labels through the perforation apparatus. Positioned between the infeed and draw rollers are one or more perforating wheels. The outer circumferential surface of each perforating wheel is provided with a plurality of “knives.” Proximal to the perforating wheel or wheels is a secondary roller. A roller gap is thus formed between the perforating wheels and the secondary roller. The web of labels is stretched taut over the secondary roller and passes through this roller gap. The “knives” of the perforating wheels puncture or indent the web of labels as it passes, and the desired depth of the perforations can be controlled by controlling the pressure of the perforating wheel against the web of labels and secondary roller. For example, such pressure may be set using air pressure provided by a pneumatic cylinder.
However, there are drawbacks to these perforating apparatus that result in inconsistent perforations of poor quality. For example, the position of the perforating wheels relative to the secondary roller may be mechanically adjusted, but it is difficult to ensure that the pressure of the perforating wheels is constant during operation of the apparatus. Generally, a single air source provides the air for the pressure that is used for all of the perforating wheels in a perforating apparatus. Due to blockages that may arise within the system, the pressure may not be constant for each perforating wheel. Further, the wheels, pneumatic cylinders, or attachment of those two components may be different (due to different age, for example). Thus, the single air source may result in differing pressures in different perforating wheels. This leads to inconsistent perforations across a particular web of labels.
Further, during operation of a perforating apparatus, the pressure within the pneumatic cylinder itself may not be held constant. For example, variances in the operation of the apparatus may cause the pressure to fluctuate (i.e., increase or decrease) relative to the desired set pressure. All of the above can cause inconsistencies in perforations along each single line of perforations.
Further, in the perforating apparatus, the outer surface of the secondary roller is hard, as the rollers are generally made of a hard substance, such as steel. As described above, during a perforating operation, the web of labels moves against this hard surface as the “knives” of the perforating wheels puncture the labels. However, the hard surface of the secondary roller does not provide any “give,” such that the knives may be stopped by the hard surface from puncturing the labels to the desired depth.
Any difference in pressure between the perforating wheels or within the pneumatic cylinder alters the depth, consistency, and quality of the perforations formed in the labels. This leads to labels with areas that are prematurely separated from the remainder of the label, labels that do not have a removable section at all (when they should), or labels with poorly functioning perforations (such that any attempted removal may tear the label where not intended).